My primary areas of practice include complex insurance claims, legal opinion letters for business, real property transactions, and environmental enforcement.  I will consider representation on a case by case basis for other areas of law.  Factors I use in considering cases outside these primary areas are the equities (injustice) of the case and my ability to find effective relief for you. Complex Insurance Claims       An insurance policy is a contract that is contingent on the occurrence of an event.  If that event has now happened, i.e. you have had a property loss, you are entitled to the contract benefits.  Home loss claims, however, are by their nature complex.  They are a mixture of negotiating the value of lost property, interpreting both contract language and custom for repair or replacement decisions, and arguing for coverage if the insurer denies that certain losses are covered.        Maybe you are overwhelmed by the issues and are unsure of your ability to negotiate your own insurance claim. If you are in Illinois, I will represent you and take as much of the burden off your shoulders as I can.  Having an attorney on your side can make a difference in how the insurance company views your claim. Real Property      If you are buying or selling real property and need an attorney to write or review a contract, I am available to represent you.  Further, I can manage your all appropriate inquiry into the environmental condition of the property being transacted. Business Law Research      Small businesses do not typically have a designated in-house counsel.  Yet oftentimes a question of legality will empower or deny transactions that you want to conduct.  I am available to research specific issues of federal or Illinois state law and will provide an opinion letter from the point of view of legality, business planning, and/or economics.        In order to provide you with cost certainty I price this work on a fixed fee basis after setting the scope of the question to be researched.  I can also use this research as the basis for a letter to another party on your behalf. Environmental Enforcement      Attorneys have a professional responsibility to use their position as officers of our courts for the benefit of the underserved.  This is often called pro bono work.  I choose to focus my pro bono efforts for the health of the Great Lakes ecosystem.  Towards this end I have filed an environmental citizen suit to get the United States government to clean up a hazardous waste landfill next to Lake Michigan.       I am further contemplating another environmental citizen suit to stop the United States Coast Guard from conducting live fire training exercises that will discharge thousands of pounds of lead into the Great Lakes each year.

Your Free Book  Now After the Fire by Steven B. Pollack If you or someone you know has just suffered a large fire, order my free book on surviving the first two months of your insurance claim